There was no need to think them dead, for their stertorous breathing and the acrid smell of laudanum in the room left no doubt as to their condition. - from Dracula by Bram Stoker

8.

An acrid and stifling smoke in which dying and wounded lay with weak, dull groans. - from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

9.

It was not alone that it was composed of all the ills of mortality and with the pungent, acrid smell of blood, but it seemed as though corruption had become itself corrupt. - from Dracula by Bram Stoker